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Senator slams carbon tax

Published: Monday, February 25, 2013 at 11:09 a.m.

Last Modified: Monday, February 25, 2013 at 11:09 a.m.

U.S. Sen. David Vitter said a new carbon-tax bill being proposed on Capitol Hill reminds him of the failed cap-and-trade legislation from 2009.

A carbon tax, in theory, puts a price on certain pollutants to curb them and is often held up as a solution to global warming.

The cap-and-trade concept would have forced plants, manufacturers and other businesses to buy transferable permits for their emissions, which would be capped.

“It’s not just energy prices that would skyrocket from a carbon tax, the cost of nearly everything built in America would go up,” Vitter said.

Vitter, the ranking Republican on the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works Committee, has introduced legislation along with 19 cosponsors that says a carbon tax is not in the economic interest of the United States.

Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, are sponsoring the carbon-tax bill.

Under the legislation, a fee on carbon-pollution emissions would pay for investments in energy efficiency and sustainable technologies such as wind, solar, geothermal and biomass.

The proposal would also provide rebates to consumers to offset any efforts by oil, coal or gas companies to raise prices.

“The leading scientists in the world who study climate change now tell us that their projections in the past were wrong;” Sanders said, “that, in fact, the crisis facing our planet is much more serious than they had previously believed.”

<p>U.S. Sen. David Vitter said a new carbon-tax bill being proposed on Capitol Hill reminds him of the failed cap-and-trade legislation from 2009. </p><p>A carbon tax, in theory, puts a price on certain pollutants to curb them and is often held up as a solution to global warming. </p><p>The cap-and-trade concept would have forced plants, manufacturers and other businesses to buy transferable permits for their emissions, which would be capped.</p><p>“It's not just energy prices that would skyrocket from a carbon tax, the cost of nearly everything built in America would go up,” Vitter said.</p><p>Vitter, the ranking Republican on the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works Committee, has introduced legislation along with 19 cosponsors that says a carbon tax is not in the economic interest of the United States.</p><p>Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, are sponsoring the carbon-tax bill. </p><p>Under the legislation, a fee on carbon-pollution emissions would pay for investments in energy efficiency and sustainable technologies such as wind, solar, geothermal and biomass. </p><p>The proposal would also provide rebates to consumers to offset any efforts by oil, coal or gas companies to raise prices.</p><p>“The leading scientists in the world who study climate change now tell us that their projections in the past were wrong;” Sanders said, “that, in fact, the crisis facing our planet is much more serious than they had previously believed.”</p>